DURANT — R. Michael and Charlene Ridgway were named the 2008 Magnolia Festival Belle and Beau and were honored during opening ceremonies Friday at Market Square in downtown Durant.

The Ridgways are longtime Durant residents and are very active in the community.

Mr. Ridgway is the son of the late Ronald and Viola Ridgway. He was born in Durant and is a 1976 graduate of Durant High School and was active in marching band, jazz band and church youth group. His first jobs were a disc jockey for KSEO radio and a sales clerk at Durant Lumber Co. He graduated from Southeastern in 1981 with a degree in business marketing. He was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity and owner of Professional Sights & Sounds Music Service.

Mrs. (Cooper) Ridgway is the daughter of the late Shirley Miller, Elmer Miller and William A. and Jane Cooper. She was born at Forbes Air Force Base in Topeka, Kan., and is a 1980 graduate of Rattan High School. She was in choir, FHA, 4-H, was FFA Sweetheart, in SOSU Upward Bound and in a church youth group.

She received a business education and management degree from Southeastern in 1984 and earned her Master of Education degree with emphasis in business education and school administration in 1988. Her honors and activities include, Sigma Kappa Sorority, Panhellenic Council president, Student Government, Cardinal Key National Honor Society, Pi Omega Pi (business ed. honor society), Senior Pi Omega Pi award, Kappa Delta Pi (education honor society), Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities, Mildred Shearer Award, TKE Sweetheart and football queen candidate (1982), 1983 football homecoming queen, Outstanding Young Women of America (1986) student work study: secretary for Dean of Women Office and partcipated in the Summer College Work program: stenciler and forklift operator in the shipping department, Weyerhaeuser Company in Valliant.

Mike and Charlene met in the fall of 1980 at the Jerry Lewis Telethon at the Durant Chamber of Commerce. They dated five years and were married June 15, 1985, at First Christian Church.

They live in the Ridgway home on Main Street. The 1917 home was designed and built by Jewell Hicks, who is also known for designing and building the state capital and state mansion. The Ridgway family purchased the home in 1932 and four generations of Ridgways have lived in the home.

The couple’s children are Rachel Elizabeth Ridgway, 19, and Michael Andrew Ridgway, 15.

Mr. Ridgway was manager of Durant Lumber Co. (True Value Hardware) and has been owner, president and CEO since 1990.

Mrs. Ridgway has taught at Sherman Public High School and has been an adult education instructor at Durant Technology Center since 2005.

Mr. Ridgway is a third generation member of the Durant Rotary Club and served as president in 1993-94. He is a member of the True Value Hardware National Lumber Advisory Board, Landmark Bank Local Board, Durant Library Project Board, Durant First Baptist Church Building and Grounds chairman, is a First Baptist Church deacon and member of the youth worker committee and is a member of the Parent Support Organization. He is a life member of the SOSU Alumni Association.

Mrs. Ridgway is a member of First Baptist Church Youth Worker Committee, First Baptist Falls Creek Committee, PEO Chapter DJ (third generation), Federation Women’s Fortnightly Club (second generation) Durant Public School Parent Support, is a life member of the SOSU Alumni Association and received an Oklahoma State Department of Education Teaching Certificate.